Doctor jailed for preying on girls

12.20pm

A doctor who preyed on girls as young as 13 he met over the internet was jailed today for two years.

Matthew James Boyd, 28, of Wellington had earlier pleaded guilty to two counts of having sexual intercourse with a girl under 16, and four counts of indecent assault, including touching the girls' breasts and genitalia.

The offending occurred between January 2001 and May 2002, initially while Boyd was working as a locum doctor in Dunedin.

None of the girls were Boyd's patients, and he has not worked as a doctor since he was first charged two years ago.

Boyd was charged in 2002 after two girls made complaints to police.

Their allegations led to charges of rape and stupefying that were later dropped because the teenagers were unwilling to give evidence in court.

Boyd was given leave to apply for home detention.

Sentencing Boyd in Wellington District Court today, Judge Bruce Davidson said he was satisfied there was no risk of Boyd reoffending.

Boyd was an extremely remorseful young man who had worked hard to turn his life around since his offending.

However, one of the indecent assault charges where Boyd digitally penetrated a 13-year-old girl was at the serious end of the spectrum and his offences related to six separate underage girls over an extended period of time.

Boyd's sentence had to accurately reflect those facts, the judge said.

The court was told in May Boyd used internet chatrooms, where he sometimes called himself "Lost Rabbi", to strike up relationships with girls.

On one occasion, he sent a 15-year-old victim a video of himself masturbating and photographs of himself naked. His internet habits continued when he moved to Wellington from Dunedin in 2002 and lived in a central city apartment. He invited young women to parties at his home where they were free to smoke and drink.

After the May hearing police said Boyd was a sexual predator who had left his victims emotionally devastated.

Detective Terry Kearns said Boyd usually corresponded with the girls for two or three days before arranging to meet them in person, sometimes suggesting they go on a picnic.

"He always said he was a doctor. Whether that was part of what he did to get what he wanted, I don't know."

The offending happened in Boyd's car, in the home of one of the victims, and at his Wellington apartment.

Police used chatroom transcripts downloaded from Boyd's seized computer to contact the victims.

Boyd's lawyer Greg King said at the March hearing the incidents dated back to a time when Boyd was a newly qualified medical practitioner and was facing enormous pressures in his career.

- NZPA